Jim Smith was a member of Delta Force who was aboard Super 61, the first helicopter that was shot down in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993. Jim then bravely defended the helicopter and his comrades from onslaught of enemy combatants, receiving a gunshot wound to the left shoulder from an AK47.

It’s no wonder, then, that he’s among the few Army enlistees to have worn the Ranger tab, become a Special Forces soldier, and serve in the elite counter-terrorism unit called Delta.

Perhaps the most celebrated of Jim’s military service exploits are the Silver Star and the Purple Heart he earned as a sniper during the Black Hawk Down incident in Mogadishu, Somalia.

A successful book and movie by the same name were released and subsequently pushed the incident to the forefront of mainstream consciousness.

I actually went to a briefing way back in my Ranger days, but I hadn’t been in the Army long enough to be eligible. Several years later, I was stationed overseas. They were sending a lot of Rangers to the LRRP (long-range reconnaissance patrol) companies during the Cold War, and I got transferred into the ILRRPS (International Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol School). It was administered by 22 SAS (Britain’s Special Air Service) out of concern for all NATO LRRP forces.

These 22 SAS guys were like, “Why aren’t you in Delta, Jim? You do everything we do.”

They were into athletic sports, and they felt that if you had a junior leader climbing a mountain, those junior leaders had essentially the same skills utilized on a mission — but American forces thought it was more like f*cking around.

I climbed Mont Blanc, which is the highest peak in the Alps. I also climbed the Matterhorn, the Eiger, and I even did the Haute Route. I did a 300-kilometer ski tour, and I was the only American doing any of this with these guys. They really loved me, and actually called back to Hereford on my behalf.

There was an American there on an exchange program, and he got the number of the Delta recruiter and they called him, unbeknownst to me. He came down, called me, and invited me to go through the process.

It’s been 25 years since the Battle of Mogadishu.

Jim Smith gained fame as a member of Delta Force who was aboard Super 61, the first helicopter that was shot down in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993. Jim then bravely defended the helicopter and his comrades from onslaught of enemy combatants, receiving a gunshot wound to the left shoulder from an AK47.

Delta sniper Jim Smith, inside the rear cargo area of the Black Hawk, remembered that there was “no warning with the exception of feeling the helicopter shudder and shake and start spinning out of control.